Wheel suspension and steering assembly



April 1, 1952 s. c. MOON 2,591,584

WHEEL SUSPENSION AND STEERING ASSEMBLY Filed June 13, 1947 -3Sheets-Sheet -l Ap 1, 1952 s. c. MOON WHEEL SUSPENSION AND STEERINGASSEMBLY Filed M913, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 HTT'Y S. C. MOON WHEEL.SUSPENSION AND STEERING ASSEMBLY 3 SheehSSheet. 15

Filed June 13, 1947 HTT'Y Patented Apr. 1, 1952 assrssi WHEEL SUSPENSIONAND STEERING ASSEMBLY Sterling C. Moon, Worthington, Ohio, assignor toThe Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Ohio ApplicationJune 13, 1947, Serial No. 754,516 4 Claims. c1.'2'so 95) This inventionrelates to a loading machine adapted particularly for undergroundoperation,'

for example, in a coal mine, to gather coal which has been previouslyundercut and shot or otherwise loosened and deliver the same to areceptacle, such as a conveyer.

' An object of the invention therefore is to provide improved apparatusof the above mentioned type.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved rear steeringwheel assembly which can steer the vehicle while providing for verticaladjustment thereof.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novelfeatures and combinations being set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a machine incorporating my invention, withcertain parts broken away;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the machine;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view showing particularly the rear steeringwheel assemblies of the machine, with parts of the loader omitted andwith parts broken away;

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view showing particularly the verticaladjusting mechanism for the rear steering wheels; and

Fig. 5 is a, front elevational view of one of the rear steering wheelassemblies, with the wheel shown in section, and with parts omitted.

The loading machine herein disclosed and claimed involves certainimprovements on the machine disclosed in application Serial No.

530,361, of Arthur L. Lee, entitled Loading Machine, filed April 10,1944. The machine includes an elongated generally horizontally extendinglow box-like main frame which is built up of a number of welded orotherwise rigidly attached parts.

As clearly illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the top of thebox-like main frame 30 is open and provides rectilinear longitudinallyextending trough 34 which is formed by a pair of opposite inwardly anddownwardly sloping trough side walls.

At spaced intervals along the length of the main frame 30 there arecross-pieces in the form of tubes, or the like, which extend between andare rigidly connected to vertical bottom portions of the trough sidewalls. One of these tubes is seen at 36 in Fig. 3 of the drawings. Thesecross tubes not only connect the intermediate portion of the main frameside members together, but they also act to support a removable bottompan 310i the trough 34, which bottom pan 3l'is of inverted channel shapeand has its side upright webs or walls in close frictional engagementwith the vertical portions of the trough side walls. The invertedchannel or pan 3'! may be readily removed by simply lifting itvertically out of-the trough when the hereinafter described boom andassociated traveling pan are removed, thus providing for inspection ofthose parts carried on the interior of the main frame 30. Furthermore,said bottom pan 3'! provides a housing for at least part of the returnrun of the endless chain and flight conveyer mechanism hereinafterdescribed more completely.

Telescoping within the bottom portion of the main frame 30 is arectilinearly adjustable boom which extends out the front endof saidmain frame 30 and carries a gathering head 39 which is preferablyadjustably mounted on said boom and may be adjusted by hydraulicmechanism about a, transverse horizontal axis.

Power driven chain mechanism is provided for adjusting the boomrectilinearly relative to the main frame 30, and a portion of this powerdriven mechanism is seen at 43 in Fig. l of the drawings. An overlappingtrough 48 rides in and overlaps the main frame trough 34 and ispivotally at-' walls of said trough 48 are cut to give flexibilitythereto along a transverse axis, this flexible con-' struction beinggenerally illustrated at 49 in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The details ofthis construction are disclosed and claimed in the application of"Arthur L. Lee for an underground loading, machine including a flexibletrough, Serial No.

81,794, filed March 16, 1949.

The general configuration of the trough 48;

follows the configuration of the trough 34 so that it fits readilythereinto. overlap between the sliding trough 48 and the stationarytrough 34 under the influence'of the" head 39 and boom, longitudinallyextending over- I lapping angles 50 are provided along each'top'... edgeof the main frame 30 and extend substantially the full lengththereotthereby removably. holding the longitudinally slidable trough43'" To maintain. a close.

of the stationary in a manner disclosed in full detail in said Leeapplication, Serial No. 530,361.

It is adequate for the purposes of this application to point out thatthe double chain of said conveyer I is driven by a pair of sprockets ona cross shaft which is mounted at its opposite ends in spacedself-aligning bearings and which is driven by sprocket 57 (see-Fig. l)which in turn is driven by a chain from a sprocket 58 controlled by aclutch mounted in a housin 59 to which a primary electric driving motorBI is attached, the housing 60 and motor 6| being rigidly attached tothe one side of the main frame 30.

As seen in Fig.1 of the drawings, the gathering head 39 includes a pairof laterally spaced gathering conveyers, including endless chains andpivot flights, which are power driven to gather the material and conveyit rearwardly and upwardly and discharge it into the receiving or frontend of the trough 48.

The front end of the main frame 39 is supported by a pair of powerdriven traction wheels 9I, spaced one at each side of the main frame 30that may be driven to propel the machine forwardly and rearwardly andwhich may be swung toa tandem position as indicated in dotted lines inFig; l of the drawings, wherein they may be driven to swing the frontend of the machine laterally or from side to side. Wheels 9| are mountedfor vertical movement and are so moved by hydraulic motors, not shown,toraise and lowerithe front end of the machine, with respect to the minefloor. 'One apparatus for mounting the wheels, driving, swinging andelevating them as described is shown in said Lee application, Serial No;530361. When the wheels 9| are in their tandem position, they may beemployedto swing the machine about the axis of an anchoring jack IOT(see Fig; 1) when the latter is swung to an upright position andexpanded between the mine floor and roof.

The rear end of the machine is provided with a pair of verticallyadjustable spaced steering wheels I24 that may be elevated from the minefloor when the machine is supported by anchoringjack I97, and attentionis now directed par ticularly to Figs. 3, 4, and 5 of the drawings andto the. structure of the improved mechanism which I'have provided forsteering and vertically adjustingthe rear wheels of the loader. Asillustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, there is a pair'of rearsteering wheels I24 adjacent the rear of the vehicle, said wheels beingin transverse alignment, one on each side of the main frame 39. Thesewheels are part of wheel assemblies which provide for steering of theself-contained loading machine and also provide for their verticaladjustment relative to the main frame 39 which is effective to adjustthe height of the discharge end and it may be employed for variouspurposes. It may be mentioned that during operation of the machine,after the jack III'I is anchored, the wheels I24 are lifted off theground so that the rear end of the loader is supported by the anchoringjack I01, the front being supported by the wheels 9I which are shiftedto their tandem positions. The lifting of the wheels I24 off the minefloor is, of course, necessary to provide for the swinging of themachine as a unit about the upright axes of the jack III? which, ofcourse, is effected by feeding the generally tandem positioned wheels 9I.

The wheel assemblies of the steering wheels I24 on opposite sides aresubstantially the same, except for the fact that One of them is providedwith a double acting hydraulic steering jack. Because of theirsimilarities the same reference characters will be employed indescribing similar or identical parts. Each wheel I24 is journaled forrotation on a horizontal axis by a spindle I25 carried by a bracket orcasting I26 which is bifurcated and provided with a top cylindricaljournal bearing portion I27 and a bottom cylindrical journal bearingportion I28. A substantially upright king pin I29 extends between and isreceived by the upper and lower bearing portions I21 and I28. Said kingpin I29 also extends through asubstantially cylindrical portion ofbracket or casting I30 (see Fig. 5), which cylindrical portion extendsbetween and is in alignment with the two cylindrical portion I2! and I28of bracket I26. Thus the king pin'I29 mounts the wheel supportingbracket I26 on the bracket I39 for steering adjustment or movement abouta substantially upright axis.

Formed as a rigid or integral part of the casting I38 is an upstandingangle plate I3I (see Figs. 3 and 5) which has top and bottom forwardlyextending reinforcing flanges and top and bottom aligned and spaced eyesI32 and I33, respectively, which receive pivot pins for pivotallymounting the forward ends of top and bottom arms I34 and I35,respectively, of a parallel motion mechanism; the rear ends of said armsI34 and'I35 being pivotally connected to the main frame 30 on spacedtransverse horizontal axes by pivot pins I36 and I31 carriedby anupstanding cross plate I38 attached to and forming a part of the mainframe 30, as clearly illustrated in Figs. .3 and 4 of the drawings. I Asbest illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings, the axes of the pins I36 andI3? lie in a transverse upright plane. The distance between the pivotalaxes I36 and I37 is preferably substantially the same as the distancebetween the parallel axes of the pivotal connections between the frontends of the arms I34 and I35 and the bracket I30, I3I. As a consequence,a parallel motion mechanism is provided and as the arms I34, I35 swingupwardly and downwardly with respect to the mainframe 30 about the axesof pin I36, I3'Lthe king pin I29 will be maintained substantiallyupright for all up and down positions of adjustment thereof. This isimportant in connection with maintaining the proper steering of saidwheels I24 for the various up and down positions of adjustment thereof.

To adjust the wheels I24 upwardly and downwardly, while maintaining theaxes of the king pins I29 substantially upright, each of said wheelassemblies is provided with an individual-double acting hydraulic pistonmotor I39, the cylinder of which is pivotally attached at its rear endto the main frame 36 and the piston of which isattached to the top of anL-shaped crank arm I40 formed integral with a cylindrical sleeve I4!(see Fig. 5), which sleeve in turn is formed integral with the lower arm35.

The two hydraulic piston motors I39 are .connected inparallel, thusproviding hydraulic differential action between them. By controlling theflow of hydraulic fluid to them it is obvious that the wheels I24 may beraised andlowered under power. The hydraulic system is such that theymay be locked in any adjusted position. In addition, it is provided witha mechanical latch I42 adapted to cooperate with notch I43 formed ineach arm I40 to hold the wheels I24 substantially in their highestpositions. The two latches I42 are rigidly connected to a common crossshaft I44 (see Fig. 3) which is supported in spaced bearings in the sidemembers of the main frame '30 so that both latches I42 operate together,they being controlled by a single operating lever I45 and control rodI46.

The steering mechanism for the two wheels I24 which I have provided hasbeen found very effective to give a rigid control of the tWowheels'while in no wise interfering with extensive vertical adjustmentof said wheels by the mechanism above described. This steering mechanismis effected by apparatus now to be described.

Extending rearwardly and substantially at right angles to the axis ofthe spindle I25 the upper cylindrical portion I21 of casting I26 carriesan integral arm I41. A laterally extending drag link I48 is connected tothe arm I41 by a ball and socket joint. The inner end of the drag linkI48 is pivotally attached to a bell crank lever I50 by a ball and socketconnection I49, the bell crank lever I50 being pivotally mounted on agenerally upright axis to the upper arm 134 by a pivot pin II.

The bell crank lever I50 has an outwardly extending arm which ispivotally attached to a substantially longitudinally extending operatingrod I52 which is pivotally connected to a bell crank lever I53 pivotedby a pin to the rear end of arm I34. Bell crank lever I53 has arearwardly extending arm portion which is substantially parallel withthe plane of the Wheel I24 and which is pivotally connected to atrunnion rin I54, the pivotal connection being about a substantiallyupright axis. The two trunnion rings I54 of the two steering mechanismsfor wheels I 24 are connected together by a cross shaft I55. Thetrunnion rings I 54 are preferably pivotally connected to the shaft I55between spaced washers so that each wheel mechanism is free to rotateabout said shaft I55. This allows equalizing movement of the two wheelsI24.

It is to be noted that the axis of shaft I55 is parallel with thetransverse upright plane which passes through the axes of the pivot pinsI36 and I3! for the two parallel motion mechanisms of the two wheelassemblies and is positioned so that it is either within said plane orclosely adjacent to it, as said shaft I 55 swings in response toswinging movement of the bell cranks I53 to effect steering of thewheels I24. This axis of shaft I55 preferably swings equally to oppositesides of said upright plane as the wheels I24 swing from one extremeposition to the other.

To effect steering of the two wheels I24 in unison, the right-handassembly, as viewed in Fig. 3, includes a double acting hydraulic pistonmotor I56, the cylinder of which is pivoted to the rear end of theright-hand arm. I34, and the piston rod of which is pivotally connectedto a plate I 51 (see Fig. 3) which is welded to the right-hand operatingrod I 52 and in effect forms a part thereof.

It is obvious from the above description that the two wheels I24 aremechanically connected together so that they are steered simultaneously.The interconnecting linkage mechanisms are compensating in character asis desirable for dirigible or steering wheels. Of significance in thisparticular is the fact that the axis of each drag link I48 issubstantially parallel with the axis of the pivotal connection betweenthe upper arm I34 and thecasing I30, I3I, though obviously exactparallelism can not be maintained between these axes because as thewheels I24 are swung the axes of the drag links I48 also swing.

In general, the mode of operation of the loading machine is generallythe same as that disclosed in the Lee application, Serial No. 530,361and consequently will not be described here.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in thedetails and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the claims hereto appended, and Itherefore wish not to be restricted to the precise construction hereindisclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of my invention, what Idesire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A machine including a main frame, a pair of spaced steering andsupporting wheel assemblies, each of said assemblies including a wheel,a spindle for said wheel, a king pinand bracket means mounting saidspindle for pivotal adjustment onan upright axis, parallel motionmechanism interconnecting said king pin and bracket means and said mainframe and mounting said king pin and bracket means, the spindle andwheel for upward and downward adjustment relative to said main framewhile maintaining the axis of the king pin upright for all positions ofadjustment, power operated means for adjusting said wheel as aforesaid,steering mechanism for each said wheel assembly including linkagemechanism extending from each spindle and substantially parallel withsaid parallel motion mechanism and carried in part thereby and having apivoted lever near the position of connection of said parallel motionmechanism to said main frame and carried by said parallel motionmechanism, and a tie rod interconnecting said lever of each wheelassembly thereby connecting the steering mechanisms of said twoassemblies together, said tie rod being loosely connected to eachsteering mechanism to provide for independent raising and lowering ofeach wheel assembly.

2. A machine including a main frame, a pair of spaced steering andsupporting wheel assemblies, each of said assemblies includinga Wheel,2, spindle for said wheel, a king pin and bracket means mounting saidspindle for pivotal adjustment on an upright axis, parallel motionmechanism interconnecting said king pin and bracket means and said mainframe and mounting said king pin and bracket means, the spindle andwheel for upward and downward adjustment relative to said main framewhile maintaining the axis of the king pin upright for all positions ofadjustment, means for adjusting said wheel as aforesaid, steeringmechanism for each said wheel assembly including linkage mechanismextending from each spindle and substantially parallel with saidparallel motion mechanism and carried in part thereby and having apivoted lever near the position of connection of said parallel motionmechanism to said main frame and carried by said parallel motionmechanism, and a tie rod interconnecting said lever of each wheelassembly thereby connecting the steeringmechanismsof said two assembliestogether, said tie rod extending near a plane passing through thepivotal axes of connection of said parallel motion mechanisms to saidmain frame, said tie rodbeing loosely connected to each steeringmechanism to provide for independent raising and lowering of each wheelassembly.

3. A machine including a, main frame, a pair of spaced steering andsupporting wheel assemblies, each of said assemblies including a wheel,

a spindle for said wheel, king pin and bracket means mounting saidspindle for pivotal adjustment on an upright axis, parallel motionmechanism interconnecting said king pin and'bracket means and said mainframe and mounting said king pin and bracket means, the spindle andwheel for upward and downward adjustment relative to said main framewhile maintaining the axis of the king pin upright for all positions ofadjustment, means for adjusting said Wheel as aforesaid, steeringmechanism for said wheel including an arm rigidly connected to saidspindle and extending substantially at a right angle relative theretoand at a right angle to said axis of said king pin, a bell crank leverpivotally connected to an arm of said parallel motion mechanism adjacenttheking pin and bracket means, a drag link interconnecting one end ofsaid bell crank lever and said first named arm and havin its axisgenerally parallel with and in the plane of the transverse axis of thepivotal connection between the parallel motion mechanism and said kingpin and bracket means, an operating rod extending along said parallelmotion mechanism connected to the other end of said bell crank lever anda second bell crank lever pivotally connected to an arm of said parallelmotion mechanism adjacentits connection to said main frame, and a, tierod interconnecting said second bell crank lever of each wheel assemblythereby connecting the steering mechanisms of said two assembliestogether, said tie rod extend ing near a plane passing through thepivotal axes of connection of said parallel motion mechanisms to saidmain frame, said tie rod being loosely connected .to each steeringmechanism to provide for independent raising and lowering of each wheelassembly.

4. A machine including a main frame, a pair of spaced steering andsupporting wheel assemblies, each of said assemblies including a wheel,a spindle for said wheel, king pin and bracket means mounting saidspindle for pivotal adjustment on an upright axis, parallel motionmechanism interconnecting said king pin and bracket means and said mainframe and mounting said king pin and bracket means, the spindle andwheel for upward and downward adjustment relative to said main framewhile maintaining the axis of the king pin upright for all positions ofadjustment, means for adjusting said wheel as aforesaid, steeringmechanism for said wheel including an arm rigidly connected to saidspindle and extending substantially at a right angle relative theretoand at a right angle to said axis of said king pin, a bell crank .leverpivotally connected to an arm of said parallel motion mechanism adjacentthe king pin and bracket means, a drag link interconnecting one end ofsaid bell crank lever and said first named arm and having its axisgenerally parallel with and in the plane of the transverse axis of thepivotal connection between the parallel motion mechanism and said'kingpin and bracket means, an operating rod extending along said parallelmotion mechanism connected to the other end of said bell crank lever anda second bell crank lever pivotally connected to an arm of said parallelmotion mechanism adjacent its connection to said main frame, and a tierod interconnecting said second bell crank lever of each wheel assemblythereby connecting the steering mechanisms of said two assembliestogether, said tie rod extending near a plane passing through thepivotal axes of connection of said parallel mo tion mechanisms to saidmain frame.

STERLING C. MOON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

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